THE CARRYING OF THE CROSS
THE CARRYING OF THE CROSS
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Pilate then decreed the sentence of Death on Jesus.
They then stripped Him of the purple mantle and clothed Him again
in His own clothes. His face had been disfigured beyond recognition
by the scourging, and Crown of Thorns. Only by His own garments
could He now be recognised by the people. So that He could
carry the Cross, they loosened the bonds holding His hands, but
not the others, since they wished to drag Him along by the loose ends
of the ropes that bound His body. Jesus looked upon the Cross
with a countenance full of joy, and addressing it He said,
"O Cross, beloved of My soul, come to Me, that I may be received
in thy arms, and that, attached to them as on an Altar, I may be
accepted by the Eternal Father, as a sacrifice of His everlasting
reconciliation with the Human race."
The executioners loaded the heavy Cross on His tender and wounded
shoulders, and dragged our Saviour Jesus along with incredible
cruelty and insults. By this they made Him often fall to the ground,
opening further great wounds, especially on the knees, and
often the heavy Cross bumped against His head, driving the
thorns further into His skull.
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